Monday, June 25, 2007

Pick of the Week: Stupid Baby Names

I'm not sure if this is beautiful, but it is a mess. I guess the beauty is that I can't stop laughing about this. My friends DeDe, Brian, Jenifer and I were all laughing over the stupid names people name their children, and how even if it is a semi-normal name, they have to go change the spelling to confuse everyone. DeDe mentioned that she knew girls named Diamond and Princess. There are other names like Building and Street. She found another girl named "Memoree". We all ask why, but this story takes the cake!

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- New Zealand authorities have blocked a couple's bid to officially name their new son "4real," saying numerals are not allowed.

Pat and Sheena Wheaton said they decided to name their new baby "4real" shortly after having an ultrasound and being struck by the reality of his impending arrival.

"For most of us, when we try to figure out what our names mean, we have to look it up in a babies book and ... there's no direct link between the meaning and the name," Pat Wheaton told TV One on Wednesday. "With this name, everyone knows what it means."

But when the parents filed the name with New Zealand's Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, they were told names beginning with a number were against the rules.

The government office has opened negotiations with the parents about the name under a policy that says all unusual names must be given case-by-case consideration.

"The name has not at this stage been rejected," Registrar-General Brian Clarke said in a statement Thursday. "We are currently in discussions with the parents ... to clarify the situation."

Clarke said the rules are designed to prevent names that are "likely to cause offense to a reasonable person." Satan and Adolf Hitler were proposed names that have been declined, he said.

If no compromise has been reached by July 9, the baby will be registered as "real," officials say.

New Zealand law requires all children born in the South Pacific nation to be registered with the Births, Deaths and Marriages registry within two months of birth.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Fighting in Kenya

As many of you know I went to Africa last July to follow up on a peace mission in Northern Kenya. The village of Turkwel has been at peace for 22 months now. The once warring tribes are now intermarrying and working to build a school for the children. One of the guys we were traveling with, who works with Youth In Mission, wrote us an email about their last visit to Turkwel, and some shocking news they received on the way home. A near by village was attacked by bandits and utterly destroyed. I have included a portion of his email below. Please pray for the peace in these areas of Kenya.

"As we were proceeding back home, we received sad news. A village 100 kilometers from Turkwel in Turkana land had been raided by Pokot raiders from Kolowa near Tot (50 Km from Tot). 24 people had been killed (mostly women and children), many more wounded; their animals driven away (3000 camels) and they had been left without food, shelter and clothing. This village is called Lokori. We were really shocked. A week before raiders from Turkana had raided a village in Kasei and killed one person and made away with hundreds of cows. We prayed and left back home. On the way we were thinking of what can be done. We had been successful in Turkwel and now these other areas are now calling on us. We arrived home safely.

The next day, Obadiah went to Lokori to collect news for his company. He confirmed that actually 24 had been killed. The pictures were really disturbing as vultures were eating their flesh. This touched my heart. Obadiah also told us the survivors are really suffering as they have nothing to eat, no shelter, some of them are sick and no one has cared. Some of the pictures showed the wounded patients. We have requested the company Obadiah is working for to give us copies of the pictures and as soon as we receive them, we’ll send them to you.

We met yesterday as YIM board to discuss the call from Lokori. This is a dark and most under-developed area with bad roads. It is one of the unreached areas in Turkana. YIM decided that something has to be done. We therefore ask for Christians, friends, Churches and other organization with a heart to join us in reaching these people. We need to take food, clothing and medicine to these suffering people. We are targeting to raise $4,000 to accomplish this. We shall take Christ’s message but we need to meet their basic needs."

If you or anyone you know wants to help my friends please let me know.
hbmohr21@gmail.com
Here is a story I found that I believe is the same incident.

Monday, June 11, 2007

The 48 Hour Film Project


I fell into a little adventure this weekend. There were a bunch of college kids filming this movie over the weekend for The 48 Hour Film Project. I didn't know any of them, but we were all hanging out at the same house and of course got to talking, and I might have let it slip that I do a bit of video editing and the like, and they asked me to help! I was going to be out of town most of Saturday, but I helped them Friday night until about midnight, then came back Saturday night to help edit what they had shot earlier in the day, and after a nail bitter to finish the project on time jumped in the car at 10 to 7 Sunday, (exporting the project to tape as we drove, isn’t technology wonderful) to turn in the project by 7:30. These people had a lot of talent, and it was, as one might say, "Nice to work with proper villains again." I realized I don't know anyone else that really exsists in the AV world as their full time calling in life, and I miss the collaboration and being able to say things like, "render", "export", "timeline", "J-Cut" and have someone know what the heck I'm talking about. So thanks to my new friends for introducing me to this great project, for thinking that I had something to offer and letting me join in the creativity. I can't wait until next year!
To learn more about the 48 Hour Film Festival go to http://www.48hourfilm.com/

Pick of the Week: Rent Your Fake Wedding Cake


This is genius! I wish this would have been around when I got married! Take a look at this link, and pass it on to anyone you know getting married before they spend a fortune on a wedding cake, most of which gets thrown away!
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/4874846.html

Friday, June 01, 2007

The Greatest Game Ever Played


















So it is 7:10PM on a Tuesday night in St. Louis, and where would you want to be? How about the first row behind the Cardinal's dugout? How about the Cardinals home game where they put the smack down on the Pirates 9 to 4 after like a 50 game losing streak? Yes, they are once in a lifetime seats, and they were generously given to us by our good friends Scott and Abby. Tim got Molena to give this little boy sitting next to us one of the balls as he was coming off the field. The little boy's grandpa gave us $20, so we bought the little boy a foam finger, Abby a Margarta and Tim a beer. Everyone was quite happy. Saddly, the wonderful and amazing So Taguchi didn't play that night, but I got to see him at the very end when they all came out to do the "good game" thing at the end. Here are some of the phenomenal pictures from the game, and Thanks to Scott and Abby for including us in one of the greatest nights ever!